Allergy season hits late in metro Phoenix

Cold weather delayed onset, but symptoms are back with a vengeance

Little more than two weeks ago, Valley allergy sufferers were reveling in their reprieve from sneezes, sniffles and coughs.

"A lot of them were saying, 'Hey, there's not much going on,' " said Dr. Duane Wong of Arizona Allergy Associates, which has four Valley offices. "They were feeling good. But we knew it was coming."

Two hard winter freezes merely delayed the inevitable. About a month behind its usual mid-February start, spring allergy season has arrived. It typically peaks between March and May.

Grasses are pollinating profusely, with trees not far behind, gearing up before spring's official start on Sunday. And you need only look in Wong's and other allergy specialists' waiting rooms to measure the pollens' effects.

"We've been a little crushed this week," Wong said. "The season has come on with a vengeance, and a lot of people are feeling pretty miserable. We've had to fit in some sick people who weren't scheduled."

By midafternoon one day this week, up to 15 patients at a time filled most of the chairs in the waiting room of Arizona Allergy Associates' Scottsdale office, waiting for their doctor appointments or allergy shots.

Priscilla Hanrahan of Scottsdale was feeling a little sniffly herself, but it was her daughter Tessa, 7, who was scheduled for an appointment.

"I get an itchy nose and an itchy throat and a runny nose," said Tessa, taking a break from her handwriting practice. "But I can still run and play."

"I've been having a runny nose a lot more, and I've been sneezing more," Kayla said. "I constantly have to go and get a Kleenex."

Still, physician Michael Manning of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology Associates in Scottsdale and Phoenix predicts this allergy season will be a little better than last year's.

That's because Phoenix has seen less winter rain, at 1.77 inches from Dec. 1 through Friday, compared with 5.35 inches in the full winter period from Dec. 1, 2009, through March 31, 2010. With lighter winter rainfall, desert trees such as mesquite and paloverde pollinate for shorter periods.

The quantities of wind-borne pollens the trees release in that time still are considerable, however, a reality check for people who moved to the dry desert in hopes of finding a haven from allergies.

"There is no place with no allergies," Manning said, adding that new residents may experience three to four " 'honeymoon' seasons before they develop an allergy to the plants around them."

The Valley also plays a cruel joke on people who moved here to enjoy the outdoors.

"They're very active people who like to hike and golf," said Dr. Laura Ispas-Ponas of Sonoran Allergy and Asthma Center in Scottsdale.

But pollens can spoil those pastimes for allergy sufferers, and not only during spring and fall, the seasons that may have troubled them in their home states. In metro Phoenix, where freezing weather is rare and something is almost always in bloom, allergen avoidance is a year-round challenge.

"No one wants to live in a bubble," Ispas-Ponas said. "But if people can start with staying indoors on days when pollen counts are high, their allergy symptoms will be a little better controlled."

Times to avoid being outdoors are early morning, at night and on sunny, windy days, when pollen counts often are at their highest. Doctors say that even 20 grains of pollen per cubic meter of air can cause a reaction in sensitive patients. On an average spring day in the Valley, the count for mulberry pollen is about 3,000 grains per cubic meter; for olive trees, it's about 300 grains.

Allergy sufferers likely will need to supplement environmental controls with medical treatment, including medicine and immunity-building shots, Ispas-Ponas said. Allergies are chronic diseases that, left unmanaged, can lead to fatigue, eat into quality of life and foster complications such as sinus infections and asthma.

Manning advises patients to begin taking their medication at the first sign of symptoms - a runny or stuffy nose, sneezing, wheezing, coughing, chest congestion and itchy eyes, nose or throat - rather than waiting until symptoms become severe.

"There are many new medications out there," Manning said. "There is no one perfect medicine that will help . . . so you have to work with your doctor to find the right one."

Then, you wait as the Valley's allergy season peaks, giving you an excuse for handing off the yard work to someone else. And - unfathomable for people who are allergy-free - you hope for the triple-digit temperatures that halt pollination and end the season in June.

Pam Vandyke performs a skin allergy test on Makayla Alston, 4, of Phoenix, as Makayla clings to her mother, Tresea Mosley, at the Arizona Allergy Associates office in Chandler. The test checks for things Makayla may be allergic to.